I know it's Friday but I owe you a Shout Out so I decided to dedicate it to English tea. :) As you know, my BFF had a lovely vacation in England and brought me back some awesome gifts. Before she left, she asked me if I wanted anything... actually, I think I told her to bring me back something. :P So she asked what I'd like and I couldn't think of anything besides an umbrella. o_O Yes, an umbrella. But since umbrellas take up too much luggage space, I remembered I was running low on tea and wanted to try real English tea. She came back with more than just a tea bag:

• Bueno Bar (seriously, you have to try this)• New English Teas (pictured above)• Talors of Harrogate Yorkshire Gold teas (sipping on now)• Awesome wooden pieces of London (simply beautiful)

I'll elaborate on the wooden pieces in a different post because they're just that awesome. But today, I wanted to share the English teas. I love the handmade miniature teapot! You can't possibly tell by the photo but the teapot in the photo above is barely 2.5 inches tall! I suppose it's functional but I'd need to get a miniature teacup to fill. ;) On the back of the packaging (not shown), they explain what the teapot means to the British:

"To the British, a teapot is an essential part of daily life. It has been a part of English culture since tea was introduced to England by Charles II's Queen, Catherine of Braganza in 1657.

"The teapot carries with it a rich history of much that is best about English culture and experience.

"Tea remains today what it has been to generations of people, a symbol of good neighbourliness and friendship between people of many different nations."

I love when well designed packages offer more than just selling the product. :) After reading this, I started to want to collect teapots! Well, I think the miniature handmade teapot added to my obsession. In anycase, the tea is definitely rich compared to the watered down American kind. Yum!